‘Firefighters Didn’t Recover Cash At Delhi HC Judge Yashwant Varma’s Residence’: Fire Services Chief Amid Row

Delhi Fire Services Chief Atul Garg said a call about the blaze was received by the control room at Varma's Lutyens Delhi residence at 11.35 pm on March 14

File photo of Delhi High Court Justice Yashwant Varma.

Source : PTI

No cash were found by fire fighters during their operation to douse flames at the residence of Delhi High Court Justice Yashwant Varma, Delhi Fire Services Chief Atul Garg stated on Friday.

Garg added that a call about the blaze was received by the control room at Varma's Lutyens Delhi residence at 11.35 pm on March 14 resulting in two fire tenders immediately rushing to the spot.

Fire tenders reached the location at 11.43 pm. It took around 15 minutes to control fire which was in a store room stocked with stationery and domestic articles. However, no casualties were reported during the incident, Garg stated, news agency PTI reported.

"Soon after dousing the flames, we informed police about the fire incident. Thereafter, a team of fire department personnel left the spot. Our fire fighters did not find any cash during their fire fighting operation," the DFS chief said.

The Supreme Court collegium launched an investigation into Yashwant Varma on Friday following reports that a substantial amount of cash was allegedly found during a fire incident at his official residence. This development led to calls for his transfer to the Allahabad High Court.

Supreme Court Calls It A Rumours 

But later the Supreme Court said that the misinformation and rumours were being spread in connection with the alleged cash discovery at the residence of Delhi High Court judge Justice Yashwant Varma. According to news agency ANI, the apex court said that the proposal for the transfer of Justice Vrama to the Allahabad high court was “independent and separate from the In-house enquiry procedure”.

“The proposal for transfer of Mr. Justice Yashwant Varma, who is the second senior most Judge in the Delhi High Court and a member of the Collegium, to his parent High Court i.e. the High Court of Judicature at Allahabad, where he will be ninth in seniority, is independent and separate from the In-house enquiry procedure,” ANI quoted the statement as saying.

The top court also added that the proposal was examined by the Collegium comprising the Chief Justice of India and four other seniormost judges of the Supreme Court on March 20, 2025.

According to news agency IANS, the Supreme Court has initiated an internal probe against Delhi High Court judge Justice Yashwant Varma as per the established in-house procedure for the constitutional judiciary, after a large amount of unaccounted cash was reportedly discovered at his residence in the national capital. CJI Sanjiv Khanna has sought a report from the Delhi High Court Chief Justice D.K. Upadhyaya and briefed puisne judges of the top court.